“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”
We have convinced ourselves that God is out to get us. That the church is out to reveal the true hearts of the wicked. Out to expose us for the sick bastards that we are. To humiliate, put down, and keep us coming back due to our own guilt. Due to our debt. Our Debt of Sin - The depraved things that we do every day. We have been told that we’re going to hell in a hand basket. As a result we cling with fear to Christianity hoping beyond hope that we aren’t going to be dipped in the lake of fire. Some have grappled with this fear and it is their primary source of faith. Others have grappled with this fear and have seen it and have said “nope”. With humor they exclaim “welcome to hell,” or “I AM going to hell in a hand basket… How do you like that preacher man?”
Our thought concoctions protect us from addressing THE DEBT … giving us the illusion of being free. “I call myself a Christian… I’m safe from the lake of fire… I don’t have any fear of the afterlife, so when I come into contact with someone that doesn’t call themselves a Christian I can piss all over their humanity because ‘they are depraved’, I can disregard their will and personality… because nothing that they say regarding religion is really correct…so I can bulldoze my agenda all over them… I am giving the good news, that they can change their lives and think like me…. OH I’m free… I’m free indeed from my debt of sin.” Or maybe you’re on the other side… on the ‘dark side’ thinking Christianity is bullshit… “Some of the people are nice. But mostly the philosophy is an archaic pushy belief that was developed by those in power to belittle, bombard and betroth those that they would choose manipulate to an addiction towards their own guilt. These people’s lives are poor, and they don’t know any better than to absolve themselves once a week day in day out. Oh believe me Geoff… I much more free than you and your so called debt… because the debt of sin doesn’t exist for me.”
I’m not saying we’re dumb… in fact we’re extremely smart. Brilliant even! There are tons of things in society that protect us from debt. Overdraft protection, hedge funds, old people… (otherwise the scam artists would be after your money). We protect ourselves from this spiritual debt by our thoughts…giving us the illusion of freedom. But it seems as though we are still shackled. Have we been set free from this debt?
Jesus taught us a prayer saying “forgive us our debts…”A debt implies that we have to pay back something. It implies that there is a loss, an absence, a borrowing of something. Is it money? No?… then what is it? Christ knew there was something lost, but what do we need to pay? If we have a debt of sin… do we pay with sin? The reason why I ask is because if I owe someone $100 I’m not going to give them a guinea pig. (unless that guinea pig is worth $100) You need to pay back what you borrowed. I have heard that we have a debt of sin… But I’m sure God is not asking us to pay him back with sin. Some of you might like that… for a while. Then do we have a debt of sin? (Ohh Geoff keep going… your making my protective layer stronger… I am absorbing your thoughts. Ask your question again Geoff…) Is there a “sin debt” that we need to pay back?
I’m about to reveal to you the secret of my trick… some of you at the beginning of this may have thought that Jesus paid your debt of sin. But now… it’s gone. Your debt of sin was only an illusion… a protection from the real deal.
The reality of our fear, or the reality of our distaste for a jackass belief system, is rooted in the same semantical problem. We don’t have an angry God that is ready at the drop of a hat to dip us in fire. We don’t have a debt of sin to repay. We have a God that loves us unconditionally. And because of that we do have a debt and we do have a responsibility. But it in no way is it focused on our sins. Focusing on our sins has only allowed us to get another credit card… at a higher interest rate… and stopped us from fixing our debt problem. Jesus was right in teaching us to pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” But what is that debt?
Love. We have been asked by God to love him and love each other. This is our calling; this is what we were born to do, and this is what he asks of all creation. Love is our zero, it is our bottom line, and it is what we were meant for. The moment that we choose to not love is the moment we begin to draw on the bank of God. Don’t get me wrong, God has a lot of love; he’s the Daddy Warbucks of love. In fact, one of the daily miracles that he produces everyday is the preservation of humanity, because humanity tends to “not love” a lot. This has produced an amazing world debt, and many of you have felt that in your lives. You can’t escape it because YOU (I have three fingers pointing back at me) have done it. But you know what? God wants us to change that. How? By recognizing how we didn’t love. And decide to change TO love. Our debt is a debt of love. To only be repaid by love. We need to get back to Zero!!! That is why Jesus was perfect. That is why he said “I will pay your debt”. Because it was his love that did it. Oh it didn’t transform the world into sunshine, lollypops, and rainbows… but for those who believe that God loved them so much to die for them… it inspires revolution. Heart change… and perhaps for those that get the message-à world change.
I don’t know where this semantical change will get us. But when I see a sandwich board on the street saying “repent or parish” I tend to bristle. Because what they are asking me to do is Change -Learn your lesson! And yes, I do need to change… And yes, I do need learn my lessons. But I think: the emphasis on a “Debt of sin” has focused our eyes on the wrong things. I don’t need to dive into my monstrosities, and flog myself for what a terrible person I am. I have a God that loves me where I am; right now, as is. And He lifts my eyes up to see that he has called me out of my monstrosities to a life in His image: an Image of love.
There is a huge debt in this world to be forgiven. And for those that believe. It has been. But it definitely shouldn’t stop there. Love must continue. We MUST decide to change TO love.
Maybe some of you have been wrapped up in your illusion of safety that has protected you from loving. Or maybe this illusion has protected you from loving God. Before we can learn to love, we must recognize how we didn’t love. Please think today how you contributed to the world’s debt. We all haven’t loved others… before we can change our ways in repairing our world, we must recognize how we need to change.
Today let your change pay tribute to a God who inspires you to be who He has called you to be.
